Mercado Global

The shoe store Wallin & Nordstrom was founded by John W. Nordstrom in Seattle, Washington in 1901. Through its various incarnations over the last one hundred plus years, Nordstrom, Inc., has grown into one of the most well known upscale department store chains in the United States. Because of its history of corporate citizenship and its formidable status, Nordstrom is precisely the sort of company with which thriving fair trade organizations want to partner. A Hall of Fame member of Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, Nordstrom has been involved in the fair trade movement since at least 2003 when it launched a fair trade and sustainable coffee program. By carrying Mercado Global’s spring jewelry collection, Nordstrom will be sourcing fair trade jewelry for the very first time.

Almost 3,000 miles Southeast of Nordstrom’s headquarters in Seattle lays the village of Chuacruz in Guatemala’s highlands. The village is nestled in a valley that rests just south of the Pan-American Highway and is inhabited by about 800 Kaq’chikel Mayas, many of whom speak little or no Spanish. Chuacruz is not a place that can be easily located on a map, nor does Wikipedia have an article about it. It’s a village that most people from the United States will never hear about, much less visit, but it has become an important source of high-quality fair trade products that will increasingly be available on the U.S. market. In short, if you don’t know about Chuacruz, it’s time you learned.

The town has one primary school which is located at the bottom of the valley and surrounded by cornfields and the rolling hills that are characteristic of Guatemala’s highlands. One of Mercado Global’s supporters, Sadie Bronck, donated her Bat Mitzvah money to help the school purchase a new kitchen and computer lab. Most of the town’s residents make their living off the land, growing corn and raising chickens, among other agricultural endeavors. Others who live in and around Chuacruz are artisans who make weavings and jewelry in order to earn extra money for their families.

Fifteen of these artisans make up Mercado Global’s partner cooperative Artesanas Mayas (eleven from Chuacruz and four more from the neighboring village Los Morales). While Artesanas Mayas has partnered with Mercado Global for only a little over a year, most of the women have over a decade of experience developing their exceptional craftsmanship. One such woman is Estela Quiquiná, who is from Los Morales but works with the other women in nearby Chuacruz. When Estela was a girl growing up in Los Morales, she had to walk a half an hour to go to school in Chuacruz because Los Morales lacked a primary school. Nowadays, however, the children of Los Morales go to a new school in their own village. Estela hopes that one day the school in Los Morales will have a kitchen built like the one in Chuacruz.

Estela has ten years’ experience crafting jewelry, and she truly enjoys what she does. She says that she is happy and relieved that her relationship with Mercado Global has afforded her the opportunity to practice her craft while earning more money. “My favorite thing about working with Mercado Global,” she says, “is the support they have given to me and the other women from my community.”

All told, you would be hard pressed to meet a nicer group of ladies than the ones from Artesanas Mayas. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to their workplace with Marisol Morales, MG’s Artisan Training & Asset Development Program Coordinator who is currently helping cooperatives prepare for involvement in our micro-credit program. Everyone from Artesanas Mayas was there, and they welcomed Marisol and I with a delicious and enormous stew. Mercado Global is fortunate that we can call the women of Artesanas Mayas our partners.

Is there a particular aspect of Mercado Global’s work about which you would like to know more? If so, feel free to offer me suggestions in the comments section concerning any future posts you would like to see. And thanks for reading.